Today, too, my grandmother was not there.

Right now, I am renting a room in my mother's house.

Inside the house that my mother has protected,
while being watched over by a black cat,
I live with my husband and the three of us.

Until a little while ago, I was in the town where my grandparents lived.
Until I left that town after turning 50,
I lived very close to my grandparents' house,
a place just a quick bike ride away.

My grandmother was a person who could never sit still.

She was just so energetic.
She would go to karaoke with her siblings and friends,
go to play pachinko,
and go out to watch plays.
Before I knew it, she would be chatting at someone's house,
and it was rarer for her to be at home.

That energy did not change until right before she passed away.
She kept going to karaoke and pachinko,
truly until the very last minute.

Thinking I would get angry at her,
she hid it until the end,
but honestly, it was obvious.

Candies with the pachinko parlor's name on them, wet towels, and such were placed strangely neatly.
I wasn't dull enough to miss that.

For a while after my grandfather passed away,
she behaved herself.

However, before long, the number of days she wouldn't come home
even after it got dark increased.

One day, from the morning, I called my grandmother
many times, but she didn't answer.

Did she collapse? Is she at the hospital?
Or... pachinko?!

Various thoughts swirled around in my head.
Living alone, with bad legs,
small, and with various health issues.

I hurriedly pedaled my bicycle.

......She's not here. Where is she?

With worry and anger, my chest felt restless.

While complaining in front of the entrance,
I was calling her over and over, and just then.

"Excuse me."

When I turned around, a security guard
was standing there a bit hesitantly.

"She went out in the morning. She said she was going to karaoke..."

In an instant, I understood everything.

Ah, it's that usual "making friends with anyone" thing.

"Oh, is that so! Thank you very much!"

Gone was the low voice from a moment ago,
my voice became friendly all at once,
and went up an octave.

......I was probably seen the whole time.

While grumbling and complaining,
the figure of a grandchild
who kept calling over and over, persistently.

Even though it must have been hard to approach me,
the fact that he told me anyway,
might have been because my grandmother had talked to him about how she "might get scolded."

"Thank you for always looking after her. Thank you so much!"

When I said that and bowed my head,
I somehow thought,

my grandmother surely must have become good friends with this person too.

More than her sons and daughters who lived far away,
my grandmother truly valued the people who would rush over immediately if anything happened.

"When I'm away, please look after things for me."
I can picture her asking that in her own clever way.

When there was a memorial service for my grandfather a while later,
my grandmother had ordered one extra bento box.

When I asked, "Who is that for?"

"It's fine, it's fine. It's for a friend."

That was for that security guard.

My grandmother was a person who would make friends
with anyone, anywhere.
And she did that without stopping, until the very end.

That was how she lived her life.

At that time, I was just a little dumbfounded,
and a little relieved.

I thought, if she's energetic, then that's fine.